Man survives 6 days in desert without water by eating ants

A missing man survived for six days without food and water in the Australian outback by eating black ants and sheltering under a tree. (Sky News)

A missing man survived for six days without food and water in the Australian outback by eating black ants and sheltering under a tree.

Reginald George Foggerdy was rescued from the "extremely hot" and remote desert bushland in Western Australia around 6am on Tuesday.

Specially trained police officers found Mr Foggerdy after tracking his footprints.

He had been sitting under the same tree for two days.

Superintendent Andy Greatwood said the 62-year-old was "extremely dehydrated" and "a bit delusional".

"He's received treatment, first aid, on the ground and it's fair to say he's now sitting up and talking, so it's looking very positive," he told 720 ABC Perth.

"His last couple of days of survival were achieved by lying down under a tree and eating black ants, so that's the level of survival that Mr Foggerdy has gone to.

"[He had] no water whatsoever for six days."

Mr Foggerdy had been on a hunting trip with his brother when he disappeared on 7 October near Laverton, some 600 miles (950km) northeast of Perth.

He had left their campsite to hunt for a camel, but failed to return.

An extensive land and air search was launched the next day, helped by volunteers and local mining and aircraft companies.

Mr Foggerdy was discovered around 9 miles (15km) from the campsite and was airlifted to hospital.

Superintendent Greatwood said Mr Foggerdy "only had shorts and a T-shirt, a cap and thongs (flip-flops)" with him when he went missing.

"He didn't have any equipment. It was just the circumstances of how he had gone out taking off after a camel and then became disorientated and lost," he told the ABC.

"[He had] fantastic survival skills.

"Obviously it will emerge how it did that and how he achieved that, but it's fair to say it's been extremely hot, extremely remote and most people would not have survived so he's done a fantastic job."

His wife, Arlyn, told the ABC she cried when she heard her husband had been found alive.

"How you can survive without water and food is a miracle," she said.

His sister Christine Ogden said the family never lost faith.

"He is an experienced bushman, he lived up in Kalgoorlie and surrounding areas for 20-odd years and he was a miner," she told Australian Associated Press.

After Mr Foggerdy was found, police tweeted a picture of one of his footprints in the red desert sand, alongside the caption: "Every contact leaves a trace ... this is one of Mr Foggerdy's actual footprints."

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